Team Rocket Grunts (Japanese: ロケットだんいんTeam Rocket Member in Generation I, ロケットだんいんのしたっぱTeam Rocket Underling Member in Generation II, ロケットだんのしたっぱTeam Rocket Underling in Generations III, IV, and VII) are members of Team Rocket. They act as fodder, enforcers, soldiers, workmen, crooks, and backup for various leaders in the criminal organization.

How grunts are referred to has varied slightly throughout the generations. A grunt is called Rocket (Japanese: ロケットだんいんTeam Rocket Member) in Generation I, Rocket Grunt (Japanese: ロケットだんいんのしたっぱTeam Rocket Underling Member) in Generation II, and finally Team Rocket Grunt (Japanese: ロケットだんのしたっぱTeam Rocket Underling) in Generations III, IV, and VII. Additionally, unlike other Trainer classes, Team Rocket Grunts are never given individual names, a tradition continued with the other villainous teams, whose members are also referred to as simply grunts. Due to the nature of how NPC Trainers are named, however, the Trainer class was technically Rocket in Generations I and II, and Team Rocket in Generations III, IV, and VII, with the name from Generation II onwards being Grunt. Despite them all having the same in-game name, there are four grunts that appear to be related to each other, the Rocket Brothers, in Silph Co.

Appearance

Male Team Rocket Grunts are depicted as men wearing black uniforms with a big red R on them, as well as gray gloves and boots (white in Generations I and II). They also wear a black cap, which in the first three Generations completely hides their short hair, though it is shown as pink in Generation IV. In Generation I, they each hold a whip, though, in a similar change to the Cooltrainers, it is omitted in all further depictions. They also seem to be adults in Generation I, though they seem a bit younger, perhaps even teens, in further games.

In Generation II, female Team Rocket Grunts debuted. In their introductory games, these female grunts are depicted as red haired women in white Team Rocket uniforms without caps, with their design being very similar to Cassidy and their outfit similar to Jessie's. However, their overworld sprites had caps and black uniforms like the males. In Generations III and IV, their design is drastically changed, and they are shown more similar to their male counterparts, wearing a black uniform with a red R, a black cap, and gray gloves and boots, though they wear black shorts or a skirt instead of pants. They are shown to have short, pink hair in the games, though their artwork from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen shows their hair as green.

In Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, grunts are also found on several of the Sevii Islands, even after Giovanni's defeat. On One Island, the player faces two in front of a cave which leads to the Ruby for the Pokémon Network Center. On Four Island, the player helps Lorelei, who nearly defeated a grunt with her Lapras's Ice Beam while interrogating Team Rocket at Icefall Cave. On Six Island, there is a grunt in front of Altering Cave. On Five Island, the player finds a group of male and female grunts operating from a warehouse obtaining a large number of Pokémon, most of them rare, and trying to make a working prototype of the high-frequency sound wave machine which would influence evolution. After the player defeats the grunts and the two Admins, they will pull out, but not before telling the player that they will find Giovanni and restore Team Rocket. They have not been seen in the Sevii Islands since.

In the Generation II games and their remakes, three years after the events of the original games, Team Rocket, under the administration of the Executives, create havoc throughout Johto gaining profit and trying to communicate with their old leader, Giovanni. The grunts are first seen operating in the Slowpoke Well, led by Proton, cutting off Slowpoke's tails to sell. In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, a Grunt is seen bothering a Kimono Girl at the Ecruteak City Dance Theater. In Mahogany Town, the player finds Team Rocket HQ underneath a souvenir shop, in which Team Rocket have been using a fully-working high-frequency sound wave machine that influences Pokémon evolution, transmitting it from an antenna in a tree. They also help their Executives take over the Goldenrod Radio Tower, as well as guard the Radio Director, who is hidden in the Goldenrod Tunnel. After defeating Archer, most grunts are gone for good. However, a lone grunt appears in Cerulean City later on, unaware of the disbanding of Team Rocket, who has stolen the Machine Part from the Kanto Power Plant. After he is defeated, he states that he will return to his home country and revive Team Rocket there. It is later revealed that when he returned home to Icirrus City, he fell in love and started a family, effectively abandoning the idea for a quiet and peaceful life with his wife and child. Team Rocket has not been seen since.

In Johto, operating from an undersea base, Grunts under the command of Dr. Namba, Butch, and Cassidy attempted to harness a Lugia and its child, but Ash, his friends, and Ritchie stopped them.

Later, they operated around the Lake of Rage under the command of Professor Sebastian and Tyson to assist with Project R; the project's goal was to force Pokémon to evolve artificially, thus giving the group powerful Pokémon to use. However, they were stopped yet again by Ash and his friends, with the help of Lance of the Pokémon G-Men.

They also appeared in copious amounts during Mewtwo Returns, led by Giovanni and Domino, to recapture Mewtwo and build a new base for Team Rocket on Mount Quena. However, they were all mind-wiped and transported away from the mountain at the end of the movie.

In A Venipede Stampede!, a Grunt informed Giovanni that they would arrive shortly in Unova. They were also to appear in two unairedepisodes to do battle with Team Plasma, which would have been the first time Team Rocket as a whole (not counting Jessie, James, and Meowth) was seen battling against another villainous team.

In Meloetta and the Undersea Temple!, more Grunts greeted Giovanni as he arrived to Unova to supervise Team Rocket's Operation Tempest. Two Grunts later appeared at Cynthia's villa, attempting to steal Meloetta from Ash and his friends. The latter got assistance from Ridley, who used his Golurk to battle the Grunts' Golem and Rhydon while Ash and others ran away with Meloetta.

Eventually, in Securing the Future!, Kukui sent out his Incineroar and defeated Aggron. Gozu's team subsequently returned to the recently repaired helicopter and prepared to head through the Ultra Wormhole. However, Tapu Koko attacked the helicopter, forcing the unit to retreat.

In SM122, three Team Rocket Grunts appeared onboard the aircraft Matori took from Alola after she apparently captured Stufful. Bewear then showed up and broke through the window to rescue Stufful, who was revealed to be Meowth in disguise.

Pokémon

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Team Rocket Grunts have been known to use the following Pokémon:

Tauros (multiple) ♂

These Tauros were first seen running wild on a field towards Mewtwo. However, Mewtwo was way too strong for them as they got sent flying by Mewtwo's Psychic. They were then caught by a group of Team Rocket Grunts.

Golem was used under the ownership of a Rocket Grunt alongside a Rhydon to capture Meloetta. It was stopped from doing so however by Ridley and his Golurk. Though the full battle wasn't shown on screen, it appeared that Golurk had defeated Golem.

Rhydon was used under the ownership of a Rocket Grunt alongside a Golem to capture Meloetta. It was stopped from doing so however by Ridley and his Golurk. Though the full battle wasn't shown on screen, it appeared that Golurk had defeated Rhydon.

Mentioned

Yanma (multiple)

After Jessie sent her Yanma to Giovanni, one of the Team Rocket Grunts mentioned that they already have a large number of Yanma. As a result, Giovanni sent the Yanma that Jessie caught back to Jessie and James.

In Pokémon Origins

Team Rocket Grunts in Pokémon Origins

In Pokémon Origins, several Team Rocket Grunts were seen. Red first encountered a Rocket Grunt in File 2: Cubone in Cerulean City, retrieving the stolen TM28 (Dig) from him. A group of Grunts were later seen taking over the Pokémon Tower and making its top floor their base. When Red and Blue later infiltrated the Tower, their path was blocked by the ghost Marowak. While Red tried to battle the ghost, Blue sneaked by it and made it to the upper floors, swiping the Silph Scope from one of the Grunts, which he then gave to Red, allowing him to identify the ghost. After Marowak's spirit had been calmed, Red battled against one of the Team Rocket Grunts, and, thanks to the help of Cubone, was able to defeat the Grunt's Koffing with his Jolteon, forcing the Grunts to retreat.

In File 3: Giovanni, a pair of Team Rocket Grunts were seen when Red raided the Rocket Hideout. Several more Grunts were seen patrolling around Saffron City after the organization had taken over the Silph Co. office building. Once Red has cleared through the building, he entered Silph Co.'s president's office, where he found Giovanni and a Grunt watching over the president. The Grunt was also seen being responsible of carrying around a suitcase containing Giovanni's Poké Balls. Several disguised Team Rocket Grunts were later seen serving Giovanni at the Viridian Gym.

Team Rocket Grunts also appeared in The Legacy, infiltrating the Goldenrod Radio Tower and sending out a broadcast announcing their comeback, hoping that Giovanni would hear them and return to lead them. This didn't happen, however, and the takeover ended in a failure.

In Holy Moltres, an army of Grunts is sent to take out Blaine, who left Team Rocket due to the creation of Mewtwo. After Red helps Blaine escape, the Grunts use Moltres, that they captured on Indigo Plateau; Red defeats it with Aero, an Aerodactyl that he brought back to life.

In The Winged Legends, the Grunts try to get out of Saffron City because of the fight between Red, Green and Koga. The Gym Leaders not aligned with Team Rocket block all the exits, keeping the Grunts in.

This Articuno was originally seen at the Seafoam Islands. Even though Red tried to stop Team Rocket for the first try, they were finally able to catch this Legendary bird because of its energy loss, and was sent to Koga afterwards.

Zapdos was used as an experiment from Team Rocket. Lt. Surge took control of it prior to Zap! Zap! Zapdos!. Around the end of the battle against Red, it ended up shocking Lt. Surge with its tremendous Thunder attack after Saur's Razor Leaf tore up his insulating underwear, rendering it useless and nearly killing him. As a result, Red earned his Badge and stole his electric-proof gloves. It was later recaught by Green.

During the battle between Red, Blue and Green, and the Rocket Triad members, Lt. Surge, Koga, and Sabrina, Moltres was combined with Articuno and Zapdos to create Thu-Fi-Zer. Once it was beaten, the three birds separated and returned to the wild.

In The Last Battle II, Grunts are put under mind control by the Masked Man. Although the Elite Trio were saved from the mind control by Lt. Surge, they are told by him to help free the other Grunts from the Masked Man's mind control.

Team Rocket owns several Houndour. One of them is owned by the Masked Man in which it was used to overwhelm Gold's team. The same Houndour was used to take on Lt. Surge while he found Team Rocket's base. Many Houndour are summoned if the leader calls for them.

In Dealing With A Koffing Fit, Silver arrives at Lance's hideout and finds pictures of Team Rocket's recent activities, all of them matching their past deeds, indicating their return. Later in the same chapter, many Grunts appear at Cliff Cave, watching Carr be deposed from his position of Boss by the Four Generals.

In the Pokémon Zensho manga

Pokémon

Beedrill

One of the Team Rocket Grunts sends out Beedrill in order to prevent the storekeeper from revealing stuff about how they are bad guys. Before Beedrill did anything, it ends up getting easily beaten by Satoshi's Charmander.

Pokémon

Zubat → Golbat

One of the grunts sent out a Zubat to battle Jō's Totodile. However, it was interrupted by a Zubat belonging to Proton. The Zubat belonging to the grunt was revealed to have evolved into a Golbat when it battled with Jō again. Golbat was taken out by Tsubaki's Meganium's Razor Leaf.

One of the grunts sent out an Ekans to battle Jō's Totodile. However, it was interrupted by Proton. Later, it battled with Jō's Totodile again and Tsubaki's Meganium but was defeated by Meganium's Razor Leaf.

Cards

Rocket's PokémonCards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format.Cards listed with a silver background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.